The National Stream High Violet On NYT Site

The New York Times today placed a free stream of The National's High Violet album which comes out in the coming weeks. On first listen it's just a polished and purposeful as Alligator and Boxer, but almost comes across as understated, especially the opening track Terrible Love, a song which exploded during a television performance on Jimmy Fallon's show last month and will most likely do the same in concert. The stream is only up for a few days though, so best to take advantage of it while you can. It can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazine/25national-t.html?pagewanted=3

A five-page lengthy article accompanies the stream, one thoughtfully put together and giving insight into the workings of the band dynamics. But probably the best quote is the following:

“People say there’s a monotony to the way I sing,” Matt Berninger says, “and I totally understand that. But maybe it’s more entertaining to watch the pole-vaulter hit the bar than go over it. Hitting the notes is less important than the attempt. If you believe what you sing, if the notes are right is insignificant. ”

Definitely a keeper. To have my Flyers win last night and this come across the interweb today is almost too much to bear. Good way to start the weekend.

Besnard Lakes Make Good Fuzzy Music

Hailing from Montreal, and sounding as if the Lost In Translation soundtrack/My Bloody Valentine heyday is their messiah, the Besnard Lakes have released a very solid atmospheric album. Although it's at times prog-rock and sludge-y, the band are quite capable of making songs that fill a room, a smaller venue and dare I say big arena. The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night indeed, and definitely one of those on moi's short list for this year's Polaris Music Prize award, one which they were nominated for a few years back but lost out to Patrick Watson.

Worth checking out........

This one is for the bar, this one is for the toilet, this one is for seating....

Not much has been said about a proposal LiveNation is considering when it comes to tickets, namely getting rid of them by replacing them with wristbands/bracelets. It's often used when it comes to all-ages shows where those who can drink need to have the wristband on to either buy a beer or get into the area which is selling booze. And multi-day festivals are another starting point for them, leaving you to figure out how to shower without ruining the damn things. However, LiveNation is proposing individual wristbands for ticket buyers depending on what you are looking for.

It's been tried in Great Britain and Europe for some concerts but generally is seen as a way to cut down on scalpers or ticket forgers by placing a small microchip into the bracelets which would then be scanned. How this would work logistically is unclear, and how this would stop people from reselling bracelets that are no longer wanted is unknown. It could be a case of bracelets being mailed out on purchase, but it might also be a logistical nightmare where thousands are in lineups waiting for their bracelets hours before the doors open. Thank god this was not in effect for SARS-Stock in Toronto, otherwise putting 420,000 bracelets on fans would've taken a tad longer than expected.